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Austin Stanton of the Centralia FFA Chapter in Centralia, Mo., was honored Oct. 25 with FFA’s prestigious “American Star Farmer” award at the 91st National FFA Convention & Expo in Indianapolis. He was among 16 American Star Award finalists from throughout the U.S. who were nominated and interviewed by a panel of judges. Four were named winners and received cash awards totaling $4,000.

According to FFA, American Star Awards are presented to members who demonstrate outstanding skills and competencies through the completion of a supervised agricultural experience.

Austin operates a multifaceted agricultural enterprise with his brother, Dustin. With more than 15,000 hens, Stanton Brothers sells eggs to neighbors, restaurants, local grocery chains and University of Missouri dining halls. The brothers also raise swine and grow potatoes and radishes to diversify their operation.

The son of Judy and Andrew Stanton, Austin also works on his family’s row-crop and beef farm. The MU student said he wants to continue farming after completing his education and sell his products coast to coast.

“I do want to come back to the farm, and I want to raise a family on the farm,” Austin said. “That’s the reason that my brother and I went into the eggs adventure. If you have all your eggs in one basket, you’re bound to trip and fall one time. Diversification is the way to be sustainable.”

During the national convention, Missouri had 518 recipients earn American FFA degrees, the highest degree bestowed on an FFA member. Less than one-half of one percent of all FFA members earn the organization’s top individual honor.

Two Missouri chapters picked up distinguished chapter awards. The Marshall FFA chapter was named the 2018 National FFA Model of Excellence winner for the third time in four years. The Paris R-II FFA chapter was also selected as a top 10 Model of Excellence program, with a total of 31 Missouri chapters receiving the highest available chapter rating.

Nine participants earned an honorary American FFA degree, which is made available to people who have provided exceptional service on a national level to agriculture, agricultural education or FFA. Additionally, teachers who have created high-quality agricultural education programs that inspire or motivate students to strive for success are eligible. A full list of this year’s recipients and a compilation of event results are available at www.ffa.org/event-results.

Acreage planted to organic field crops is on the rise while land planted to non-GMO corn and soybeans is declining, according to a new report from Mercaris, a market data and trading platform for the identity-preserved grain industry.

The number of farms certified under USDA’s National Organic Program increased 3 percent in 2018, with the biggest gains coming in the Northeast, Corn Belt and West Coast. Mercaris estimates the number of certified organic acres in 2018 will total 6.5 million, up 2 percent from last year.

Demand for organic livestock feed is one of the main drivers of organic crop expansion. Organic corn, soybeans and wheat are expected to account for approximately 1.2 million acres in 2018. The number of certified organic corn operations increased 4 percent from last year, while overall acreage is set to expand 2 percent.

The growth was even stronger in soybeans. More than 2,500 operations produced organic soybeans, up 7 percent from last year. Overall organic soybean production also saw a 7 percent increase from last year, with large gains in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri.

Overall non-GMO acreage declined by 5 percent this year, dropping to 12.1 million acres. Total U.S. non-GMO corn acreage declined for the second year in a row, and non-GMO soybean acreage declined 7 percent from last year. The largest decline occurred in Missouri, which was the top grower of non-GMO beans in 2017.

Mercaris used data from USDA’s Organic Integrity Database, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Economic Research Service and other surveys to compile its estimates.

After more than 100 years, U.S. cotton is free of the devastating pink bollworm. USDA made the announcement in October after years of research, rigorous control measures and regulatory activities to eliminate the pest. Pink bollworm has cost U.S. producers tens of millions of dollars in yearly crop protection costs and yield losses.

The elimination means USDA will lift the domestic quarantine for pink bollworm, relieving restrictions on the domestic and international movement of U.S. cotton.

“Removing pink bollworm regulations eases the movement of cotton to market both domestically and internationally because farmers will have fewer restrictions to deal with, like fumigation requirements,” U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said in announcing the news. “Cotton growers were critical to this success, banding together to carry out a coordinated, multi-state program and shouldering 80 percent of the program’s cost.”

Pink bollworm was first detected in the U.S. in Hearne, Texas, in 1917. That infestation and another found in Louisiana in 1919 were eliminated only to be re-invaded in the 1930s. By the 1950s, the pest had spread to surrounding states and eventually reached California in 1963.

In 1955, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service established domestic pink bollworm regulations. At the height of the program, 10 states—including Missouri and Arkansas—were quarantined for this pest. Many of these infestations were suppressed through cooperative federal, state and industry programs. By 2003, only Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas remained under regulation.

The U.S. is a world leader in cotton production and trade. The industry accounts for nearly $27 billion in products and services annually, provides hundreds of thousands of jobs across many sectors and supplies nearly one-third of the raw cotton traded globally.

Brent Hampy, a row-crop and cattle farmer from Pettis County, Mo., has been appointed as the new state executive director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency in Missouri. He joined the state’s FSA team Oct. 1, filling the vacancy left by the May appointment of Richard Fordyce of Bethany as administrator of the national FSA.

Hampy has farmed since 1987 in Smithton, Mo., and had been serving as Pettis County’s Eastern District Commissioner since 2012. He had also been a board member for the Missouri Farm Bureau since 2013. As part of the federal appointment, Hampy has stepped down from both positions.

His new duties will include overseeing FSA’s commodity and disaster relief programs for farmers, ranchers and agricultural partners.

MFA has expanded the partnership between its precision agriculture programs and Adapt-N, a professional software tool that combines advanced crop modeling with soil-type information, field management data and weather to establish real-time nitrogen recommendations.

Adapt-N is now available to the entire MFA trade territory, giving growers the ability to leverage field data already available within the MFA system to generate unbiased and scientifically validated in-season, variable-rate nitrogen recommendations, said Thad Becker, MFA Incorporated precision agronomy manager.

Working in conjunction with MFA’s Nutri-Track and Crop-Trak programs, Adapt-N adds another layer of beneficial data for growers, he added.

“We strive to serve our members with programs that improve their farms,” Becker said. “We accomplish this by providing nutrient recommendations tailored to each farmer’s unique growing conditions along with critical in-season field observations and our overall commitment to environmental stewardship. Everything we do has sound agronomy behind it. When we provide a service or product, you can count on it. We are excited to offer Adapt-N to customers throughout our territory.”

Adapt-N is built on more than a decade of university research plus continuous, multi-regional, on-farm testing since 2011. Adapt-N is operated by Agronomic Technology Corp and owned by Yara International.

“The increase in MFA’s use of Adapt-N over the past several years and the expanding availability of the technology across its territory are further evidence of MFA’s commitment to driving profitable sustainability for its growers,” said Steve Sibulkin, who leads the Adapt-N solution team at Yara. “This is completely aligned with our aspiration to bring timely recommendations to farmers that help them maximize yield while minimizing environmental impact.”

For more information, visit with your local MFA Crop-Trak or Nutri-Track consultant.

As of Sept. 1, there were 75.5 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, up 3 percent from the same time last year, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

Other key findings in the report were:• Of the 75.5 million hogs and pigs, 69.2 million were market hogs, while 6.33 million were kept for breeding.• Between June and August 2018, 34.2 million pigs were weaned on U.S. farms, up 3 percent from the same time period one year earlier. • From June through August 2018, U.S. hog and pig producers weaned an average of 10.72 pigs per litter.• U.S. hog producers intend to have 3.16 million sows farrow between September and November 2018, and 3.12 million sows farrow between December 2018 and February 2019.• Iowa hog producers accounted for the largest inventory among the states, at 23.6 million head. North Carolina and Minnesota had the second and third largest inventories with 9.40 million and 8.60 million head, respectively.

To obtain an accurate measurement of the U.S. swine industry, NASS surveyed more than 6,500 operators across the nation during the first half of September. The data collected were received by electronic data recording, mail, telephone and through face-to-face interviews. All surveyed producers were asked to report their hog and pig inventories as of Sept. 1, 2018.

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